Week Five

Environment

I want the different environments and objects to be bright, basic and but very recognisable and realistic enough for the children to understand where the caveman is. I don't want the caveman character to be overpowered by the environment he is in.

The environments and objects will be created in 3D studio Max using various shapes and tool to give the desired shape, effect and colour.

Week Five

Character Rigging

This week I looked at rigging, I had missed the lecture on this subject so decided to familiarise myself with it on my own. I found it very interesting and will be very helpful to use when creating the bones and skeleton for the inside of my character. I also looked at IK chains which link all the bones together and fins which give more movement in the body showing exactly how each bone will move.

I looked at one site in particular to help, it was very useful in helping to understand how to rig a whole body.

http://www.3dtotal.com/team/tutorials

Week Four

Although at first look a cave man may not come across as a likable character but i want my character to be as friendly and inviting as he can and his expressions and body language will help to portray this. He will be pleasant and gentle in both his personality and body language. His movements will not be aggressive at all and his his dim-witted personality will make him sometimes humorous without realising. I think he will be a new and Intriguing, likable and interesting character for children to respond to.

His friendly gestures, slow, calm movement, smile and relaxed posture will make him the inviting and likable character i want to create. With this behaviour and body language children will not see him as a threat or unlikable character

My curly hair reflects my individuality the most as not many people have curly hair like mine and it is something people are always noticing and complimenting about me. For my character it will also be his hair, body hair and clothing which make him noticeably a caveman, but it will be his slow dim-witted personality which will make him stand out.

Week Four

Environment Ideas

As mentioned before i want my caveman character to appear in modern times, the total opposite of what he is use to. I have done some research and looked at images of the type of environment he mite be use to, and also looked at some modern environments he mite be able to appear in.

He would of come from and environment with with no electricity, no money or anywhere to spend it, no roads or cars to drive and no house to live in. These are all things which children are familiar with in their modern environment today. Cavemen used a variety of materials in their environment to make tools and equipment and they lived in tents and caves, hunting for food.

The modern environments the caveman will appear in will be very different to this.

Modern Environments

The modern environment will be a whole new world to learn about for the caveman and he will face new things to learn. The modern environment will just be an everyday surrounding such in a house, a modern street, beach etc.

Week Three

Cavemen can be very different and sometimes scary to look at especially for children so i want his movements and body language to be quite calm and not to hasty. The build of my character is going to be quite big and bulky and i want him to possess personality and body language quite the opposite to this big bulky physique. I want him to be quite slow moving which will relate to his dim-witted personality trait and he Will sometimes be a bit slow getting the grasp of things. His body language will be relaxed with his hands by his side, not threatening and his face will posses a friendly smile and big doting eyes. Its his personality and body language which will make him a friendly character children can connect with.


When thinking about the storyline i am going to undertake using this character i come up with the idea of the caveman appearing in modern times maybe a modern street or house. This will be a location and environment he is very unfamiliar with so he will be a little lost and confused. He will then encounter little modern problems which he will have to solve. such as the names of new objects he finds, adding up sum etc and also showing the children objects he is familiar with which they may not be. These problems will be things which children encounter also as they grow up and gain knowledge, therefore i think it would be engaging for children to help this caveman learn while learning new things themselves at the same time.


The modelling of both my character, objects and environments will all be created using 3D studio Max. I have some experience with 3D Max and character animation however i have not created anything to this level and therefore it will be a great challenge and learning curve for me.

Week Two

The next thing to think about is the personality my character will have, personality is a very important part when i am creating this character as it is going to be the right personality which makes a likable or dis likable character for the children to relate to. The characteristics possessed by my character will influence his behaviour and reactions to various situations and hopefully these reactions and this behaviour is something children can relate to.

Feelings and Emotions

Love.
Pain.
Shame.
Insight.
Sadness.
Happiness.
Desire.
Compassion.

Here are a list of personality traits i feel my character should possess in order to be a likable and cartoon character for children to relate to.

Honesty: I want my character to have integrity and keeping one's promise.

Responsibility: To be accountable for things and following through with duties.

Loyalty: Showing devotion to people and/or things.

Enthusiasm: Having a strong affinity towards and eagerness/ willingness to work with others or things.

Influence: Motivating or encouraging others.

Compassion: Having sympathy and feelings for people with problems.

Patience: Being able to wait and taking time to do things.

Courage: Confronting danger or difficulties in spite of fear.

I want my caveman character to be a friendly, enthusiastic, likable, humorous and dim-witted. Because cavemen can be quite scary to see sometimes his personality will ned to shine through.

Week Two

This week the lesson was not on as there was a snow day however After much research and thought into many ancient times and characters i decided that i wanted to create a cave man for my character.

I started to look at different Caveman images to get an idea of their behaviour, movement and posture. This will help me when i am creating and deciding on what my own character should look and behave like.





I also looked at Caveman cartoon character i was already familiar with such as Fred Flintstone and Captain Caveman. These are two very likable cartoon characters i myself have grown up watching.

Fred Flintstone tends to be loud-mouthed, aggressive, and constantly scheming.Fred is typical working class working at Slate Rock and Gravel Company.

Fred's interests include bowling, playing pool, poker, lounging around the house, and playing golf. At the first two of these, he is very skilled.

Fred's has a catchphrase "Yabba-Dabba-Doo!"

Captain Caveman is the main character he's a caveman who is thousands of years old.

He can pull various objects from his body hair. He can also fly, but his flying power always seems to conk out on him at the worst possible moment.

He speaks in stereotypical "caveman-talk", replacing subjective pronouns with their objective equivalents and dropping articles such as "the" for example "Me know where bad guys are hiding.", and often mumbles the nonsense phrase "unga bunga".

He also has a bad habit of occasionally eating non-food objects such as bicycles, TV sets, table lamps.

Captain Caveman's powers include super-strength, a variety of useful objects hidden inside his fur, and a club that allows him to fly and from which pops out different tools he uses to fight crime.

His trademark is his battle cry of "Captain CAAAAAAAVEMAAAAAAAAANNNN!!!!"